What is a Good Resource for Determining Employee Pay Scales?
By Penny Morey •
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
I'm in the process of developing a business plan for a cheerleading gym and am looking for a resource that will share pay information for other gym owners like me, as well as pay scale information for future staff. Any suggestions?Compensation information for professionals who specialize in this field is very expensive and is produced by major companies like Aon Hewitt, Towers Watson, and Mercer. There is a reason that it is so expensive. It requires a high level of expertise to do true matching of jobs to compensation. Factors that are assessed often include business acumen, project management responsibilities, analytic ability, problem solving and decision making, leadership qualities and interpersonal relations, among others.
Online sources such as Salary.com can be unreliable for a variety of reasons, including accuracy of the data. Also, broad ranges are usually provided as a general rule, which leaves you still wondering what to pay your employees.
What I recommend that you do, as a practical way to accomplish you goal, is to log onto major job board sites and niche sites for your industry and look at job openings that are similar to the ones you want to fill. Look for what your competitors are paying. Make sure that you stay within the geographic parameters that make sense as different areas pay differently due to cost of living factors.
This is the most inexpensive and expeditious way to accomplish your goal with fresh and realistic market data.
Related: How to Set Salaries
Related: The Basics of Employee Benefits
